Products: CircuitWorks

SolidWorks Premium now includes CircuitWorks as an Add-Ins which allows bi-directional IDF and PADS file interface for the SolidWorks 3D CAD system. The Priware Limited company was acquired by SolidWorks in March of 2008.

CircuitWorks is designed to bridge the gap between SolidWorks and Electrical Computer-Aided Design (ECAD) systems by providing an intuitive tool that allows users to import and export Printed Circuit Board (PCB) designs between SolidWorks and ECAD systems. 

What does CircuitWorks for SolidWorks Premium do?

CircuitWorks allows users to read and write the industry standard IDF 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0 format files produced by Electrical CAD (ECAD) systems used for Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design. It can also read *.asc files from the Mentor PADS ECAD system.

Turn on the Add-In and jump into a bi-directional IDF and PADS interface. The contents of the assembly are shown as a tree and preview image similar to the FeatureManager Design Tree in SolidWorks.  The tree and preview show the various types of entities in the file such as the Board, Plated and Non-Plated Holes, Components, Keep-outs, Outlines and Annotations.  When used with files written in the IDF 4.0 format, CircuitWorks can also show Pads, Traces and Filled Areas.  

CircuitWorks® is bi-directional, SolidWorks® parts and assemblies can be exported from SolidWorks into the CircuitWorks interface, modified if required and then saved as IDF files to be read back into a ECAD system.

What are the benefits of using CircuitWorks in SolidWorks Premium?

CircuitWorks uses the information in IDF or PADS ASCII files to produce a fully detailed 3D SolidWorks assembly of a printed circuit board (PCB) and its components. The completed SolidWorks Assembly can be used in a numbers of ways:

• Checking For Interference: By transferring an accurate model of a PCB and its components accurately into SolidWorks, users can check for any potential interference between the Circuit Board and its enclosure. If there is an interference, then the board shape or the positions of components on the PCB can be altered and the resulting changes saved back out for use with the ECAD system.
• Creating Complex Board Shapes: Often the shape and size of a PCB is driven by the product that will contain the board. Using SolidWorks to design the shape of the enclosure allows the PCB board to be accurately designed and streamlines the process when switching between SolidWorks and CircuitWorks and exporting the design back to an ECAD system.
• Visualization: SolidWorks Premium with CircuitWorks and a host of other Add-Ins allows users to capture the model geometry and its components with materials, colors and real viewing graphics for use in marketing materials, website design and sales use often before the product has been manufactured.
• Prototyping: Create both digital 3D and physical prototypes using SolidWorks models and CircuitWorks models. can be
• Manufacturing: CircuitWorks embeds ECAD information into the SolidWorks Assemblies it creates. This information can then be used to add annotations such as Reference Designators to assembly drawings which can then be used as aids to manufacturing the PCB assembly.
• PDM: CircuitWorks adds custom properties defined in the IDF file format into the SolidWorks component models it creates, these attributes can then be used to describe the component in a data management system such as SolidWorks Workgroup PDM.

Analysis: SolidWorks Premium allows the CircuitWorks model to be analyzed with SolidWorks Simulation built in to the SolidWorks interface and used as an add-in. Other SolidWorks Simulation analysis can capture important information from the PCB board such as Thermal, Frequency, Drop Test, Fatigue and Flow.  This information may prove important when analyzing the product the PCB board is going in too and determining the optimum shape and longevity the product has to offer.

:: Download the CircuitWorks datasheet